Perceptual Realism and Embodied Experience in the Travelogue Genre

This paper draws two lines of analysis. On the one hand it discusses the history of the This paper draws two lines of analysis. On the one hand it discusses the history of the travelogue genre while drawing a parallel with a Bazanian teleology of cinematic realism. On the other, it incorporates phenomenological approaches with neuroscience's discovery of mirror neurons and an embodied simulation mechanism in order to reflect upon the techniques and cinematic styles of the travelogue genre. In this article I discuss the travelogue film genre through a phenomenological approach to film studies. First I trace the history of the travelogue film by distinguishing three main categories, each one ascribed to a particular form of realism. The hyper-realistic travelogue, which is related to a perceptual form of realism; the first person travelogue, associated with realism as authenticity; and the travelogue as a traditional documentary which is related to a factual form of realism. I then discuss how these categories relate to Andre Bazin's ideas on realism through notions such as montage, duration, the long take and his "myth of total cinema". I discuss the concept of perceptual realism as a key style in the travelogue genre evident in the use of extra-filmic technologies which have attempted to bring the spectator's body closer into an immersion into filmic space by simulating the physical and sensorial experience of travelling. Such technologies can be described as tri-dimensional, surrounding, immersive, kinaesthetic and stereoscopic. Moreover, I discuss the extent to which these technologies can be considered haptic, ocular or embodied, while referring to Laura U. Marks' notions of haptic visuality and haptic images.